Saturday, March 03, 2012

Know your enemy- @ Ole Miss Black Bear Rebels

Our surging Crimson Tide head over to DJC's favorite place to see a game. It's Ole Miss, Oxford, and one of 2 decent spots in the state of Mississippi (the other being the gulf coast). Ole Miss is on a streak of their own// a 2 game run including a come from behind win at Fayetteville.

Your customary links:
- Write up from Ole Miss. It's actually an interesting read, propping up Andy Kennedy as some sort of savior of sorts. I think he should be fahred at the end of the year myself.
- Black Bear Rebels season stats.

Terrence Henry has stepped up his scoring the past 4 games... shooting better than 50% in 3 of them and averaging over 17PPG in that span. Murphy Holloway has also stepped up inside in that span... giving the Black Bear Rebels an inside game that could give us fits with Gueye and Engstrom hurting and Green being Green... getting 2 fouls in the first 6 minutes. Jarvis Summers is one of the better PG in the SEC and more importantly their best 3 point shooter. He shoots better from three than he does inside the arc. Nick Williams drops 10 a game, but like the rest of the team... not exactly efficient at getting to 10. Reginald Buckner pulls down 8 boards a game... I think him and Holloway might be the only tandem in the SEC pulling in over 8 boards a game each. We're going to need Green and Jacobs blocking out.

Prediction: I'm almost thinking that it would be in our best interest to lose this game, but then I took a look at my prediction for this season and NOW BELIEVE WE HAVE TO WIN. DJC posted the scenario below and I'm conflicted on being a 4 vs a 5 seed. The 5 seed does have to play on Thursday, but it's South Carolina... a team we should curb stomp this time. Then it's UTK who I believe we beat with or without the extra day of rest. Then it's Kentucky... and we can hope they take the day off. Anyways, back to the prediction... I need this win so I'm going with the Tide by 3 in Oxford behind Releford's dribble drive and Eblen's 3s.

"Reginald Buckner pulls down 8 boards a game... I think him and Holloway might be the only tandem in the SEC pulling in over 8 boards a game each. We're going to need Green and Jacobs blocking out."

we out-rebounded them 41-38 according to stewart.

this situation reminds me a lot of the georgia bulldog team with dominique wilkins.

the year AFTER dominique turned pro, the dogs went to the final four. when wilkins was on the court for georgia, everybody waited on him to make a play. after he left, they had to play for themselves.

now i'm in no way comparing jamychal green to wilkins. but i do think he's on the court the other players take their foot off the gas. they coast.

and there was a lot of coasting today including by our coach. grant at one point in the first half refused to get up from his seat, sitting there with his hands over his mouth. kennedy did us a favor by calling a timeout late in the first half because grant just wouldn't do it. i don't think he said twenty words at the half and after the game combined.

again, our substitutions stank. bad. at one point randolph hit a three in the first half and was promptly yanked. i realize grant was upset with levi's lazy d but you got to let somebody get their rhythm.

the excuse du joir (sp?) today is that the team arrived late last nite due to the storms.

any snort in a storm i guess.

frankly, i don't think any of them wanted to be there. coaches, players, the lot of them. if they did, they had a funny way of showing it. get this game over and let's go to new orleans.

sans momentum.

i'm going to make an observation here that isn't going to be comfortable for some so turn down the sound if you're queasy.

after three years at alabama, anthony grant should thank billy donovan for coming back to florida from orlando. because if he thinks he was ready for the florida job three years ago, he's nuts. donovan's still riding that two-year lightning he caught in a bottle a couple of years ago. if it weren't for that, that crowd would have run his ass out of town already. that's a tough crowd down there, just ask steve spurrier.

and they "care" about their basketball.

some may consider grant a good coach, frankly, i don't. i think he has potential. but he has a LOT of work to do. he's yet to prove to me he's more than a mid-major coach. personally, i think at the time mark gottfried was more ready for the sec than anthony grant. and you guys know how i feel about gottfried.

the officiating was horrid today but it went both ways. one low light was stopping our offensive series to get a injured REBEL PLAYER out of the game.

Anthony Grant has done nothing so far to make me believe he's a bad coach. In my opinion he was coach of the year last season and has done a good job this season despite having to deal with a lack of leadership, discipline and, at times, chemistry.

I think the problem as far as the fan's perception of this team and the coaching staff is due to the preseason hype this team received.

On paper, perhaps it was worthy of such praise. The top three players, stats-wise, returned and there was a top 10 recruiting class.

Unfortunately, the freshmen have been the typical freshmen for the most part. There have been flashes of production, but they've also struggled at times with the transition. And there's nothing wrong with that. Not every freshman player is going to have an Anthony Davis type of impact.

The biggest problem has been the struggles of the top three returners. Green has had a solid season, but the suspension set him back and of course Tony Mitchell was suspended for the season. And Releford has suffered more or less from the sophomore jinx. If those three guys have better seasons, I think the team would have lived up to the preseason hype.

Most of you may disagree, but I don't think you can put that on Grant's shoulders. He's been frustrated with this team off and on all season. I think he knows they should be better, but the lack of leadership and chemistry has been tough to overcome.

Despite that, this team still has 20 wins and is projected to make the NCAA tournament. At the beginning of the season my personal expectations for this team was for them to make the tournament. It appears they are going to do that so I would ultimately rate the season a success to this point.

I think you have to give Anthony Grant some credit instead of calling him a bad coach. A bad coach with this team and the schedule they've played would have a losing record and would not be sniffing the postseason.

Having said that, this team can not afford a loss to South Carolina on Thursday. It could be potentially devastating as far as the NCAA tournament goes. No excuses if they lose that game.

what's wrong, m? having problems spinning that last post of mine to put words in my mouth??

"I think you have to give Anthony Grant some credit instead of calling him a bad coach."

tell you what, m, i've got a c-note for you if you can cut and paste the sentence in my post where i used the word "bad" to describe anthony grant as a coach.

for someone who's so much smarter that i about college basketball it's really shocking to me that i have to explain to you that because an individual is a good (maybe even great) mid-major coach does NOT mean he/she can make the jump to D-1.

there are lots of good mid-major coaches who don't find success at the D-1 level for whatever reason. maybe they can't relate to the D-1 player. maybe the timing's just wrong. maybe the situation's wrong. maybe they're just not cut out for the spotlight that comes with D-1 basketball.

"I think the problem as far as the fan's perception of this team and the coaching staff is due to the preseason hype this team received."

i have to give it to ya, m. that was funny. pre-season hype??? for basketball??? at alabama???

oh, my sides!

here's the reality. the pre-season "hype" was to make the tournament.

period.

if alabama does make the dance, (and i think they will regardless of what happens in the sec) they'll be one of SIXTY SEVEN other teams.

just making the dance at unc-asheville is a BIG deal.

at alabama, not so much. i don't care how long it's been since we "sniffed" the dance. if we don't get out of the first weekend, we haven't had a good year.

again, i don't think any objective fan can discount momentum, peaking at the right time to success in the tournament should you make it. we had momentum. we lost it.

and i put the blame at anthony grant's doorstep.

and if your watched him court side, and listened to him post-game yesterday, i'll bet deep inside, he's a lot closer to my way of thinking than yours, m.

there was a cancer on this team this year.

"When asked if he was disappointed in himself for his actions, Green said the following:

“Not really....."

"Coming in, I knew I wouldn't be able to get as many touches as I wanted and get off as many shots," the Tide's star said. "That's when my passing skills come in ................"

(exactly who was that last quote for???)

the common thread in these quotes is i i i, me me me.

grant cut out part of the cancer but he didn't finish the job.

and the results bore that out.

since green was allowed to return and start, we've looked like crap. some choose to ignore the facts but that doesn't change them.

in games post-suspension where green either didn't play or didn't start we scored:

58 in a road loss to lsu.

62 in a home loss to florida.

62 in a home win over tennessee.

79 in a road win over arkansas.

67 in a home drubbing of mississippi state.

in games where green started:

55 in a home win over a pathetic auburn team.

51 in a road loss to ole miss.

our "chemistry" was never better that the arkansas game. who decided to tinker with that???

who's decision was it to bring green back and then start him, m???

now grant may turn this around and make a tournament run and i hope he does.

but the fact that we're now limping into the post-season doesn't help our chances.

- I don't think Green has negatively impacted the team. Heck, without him yesterday that is a 20+ point blowout.- I tend to agree with some of finebammer's assessment of cag's coaching. It's 'lukewarm'. His substitution patterns as I (and DJC) have been saying for almost 3 years is baffling. His in game decisions have been at times questionable.- In year 3 all I wanted was to make the NCAAT. I wasn't as high on this team as others were in the preseason so my expectations were tempered.- I doubt we fall further than a 10 seed. Actually I'd rather be that than a 8/9 with UNC/SYRACUSE/KANSAS 3rd round game. We would get embarrassed beyond belief by those teams.

I don't have to spin anything you write, finebammer. Everyone who reads your garbage is well aware of how clueless you are. They're just smart enough, unlike me, to ignore your ignorant ramblings. The fact that I actually waste my time responding to your tripe is an indictment on me.

"some may consider grant a good coach, frankly, i don't." Yet, you say you are not calling him a bad coach?????

You do know that mid-majors are D-1 programs, right? In fact, so called mid-majors have improved their national perception in recent years as mid-majors like Butler, George Mason and VCU have advanced to the Final Four. Maybe you meant D-2 OR D-3 or NAIA....who knows what the hell you meant? Better yet, who cares?

There was preseason hype. How many preseason polls had Alabama in the top 15-25? That's hype, buddy. When people are talking about you in the same breath as the other top teams in the league, that's hype.

The program has not been to the tournament in six years and Mark Gottfried left things in poor shape. So, yeah, just making the tournament is a big deal this season. Obviously I would like to see the team win a game or two, but my point was just making the tournament after such an inconsistent season is a credit to the coaching staff pulling the team through the rough stretches.

Green has nothing to do with the teams shooting woes. In case you haven't noticed, the team has been inconsistent shooting the ball all year. They shot the ball well in Puerto Rico, went into a lull, and then shot the ball well during the Okla. St, Ga. Tech, Georgia stretch and then went back into a lull. The great shooting against Arkansas and Miss. State was not a product of Green being there or not being there, it was simply that the team hit shots that it hasn't hit for most of the year. This is a streaky shooting team. If they are able to produce from the perimeter, it opens up the floor.

I will say that criticism of the staff being unable to figure out how to solve the zone with the players they have is justified, but one of the components in beating a zone is the ability to hit perimeter shots and they just don't have a guy they can count on to consistently hurt a zone.

Your main problem with Grant is JaMychal Green, not Anthony Grant's ability to build a program. We've debated the subject of Green endlessly so it's pointless to rehash that. All I can say to you is that you've only got at least one more game to bash a 21-22 year old kid. After that, you'll have to find another kid to bash or a coach or fans or something else with Bama basketball. It doesn't matter what this program achieves, you're always going to bitch about something because that's your m.o. Good luck with that.